It's less than 24 hours before the Rangers announce Alain Vigneault as their new head coach. But after he is officially named the bench boss, there's still a question swirling around the Blueshirts' franchise: what is Mark Messier's future?

The captain who delivered the Stanley Cup to New York in 1994 and special assistant to Glen Sather was passed over for the head coaching job after interviewing with the team. "I don't really know what Mark is going to do. He was very disappointed when I called to tell him that we were going to hire Alain. He said he wanted to take a few days and would call me, but we haven't spoken since," Sather told The Post's Larry Brooks.

That certainly sounds ominous.

Despite the disappointment, there's still the possibility he's the Rangers' GM of the future after Sather steps down someday. However, anyone who's ever been turned down for a job can talk about the embarrassment of being turned away. But this process has proved that, if he'd rather be a head coach in the NHL, he'll have to start as an assistant (or AHL coach) and work his way up. "NHL coaches aren't born, they're made," wrote Puck Daddy's Greg Wyshynski. "Adam Oates is a great example: Extremely intelligent, a student of the game, and a player with name recognition for generations of talent that came after him; but he needed some time as an NHL assistant coach before he could earn a head coaching gig with the Washington Capitals."

If you were Messier, would you stay with the Rangers and continue to learn with the front office? Or would you leave to start on the road to coaching? Tell us what you'd do in the comments section below.